Jay Keasling, director of the Lab's Physical Biosciences Division, led a study that used "intelligent design" to guide the evolution of an important class of proteins towards desired outcomes. Keasling and his student, Yasuo Yoshikuni, were able to train a "promiscuous enzyme" from the Grand fir, which had the capacity to produce up to 52 different enzyme products, into becoming a specialist that could be made to produce any one of seven specific products. This technique opens a unique path to synthesizing new therapeutic drugs, as well as a wide assortment of other enzyme products, including nutraceuticals, flavors and fragrances. Full story.

SPECIAL EVENT

Outdoors Club Plans
Mission Peak Hike

Employees are invited to join members of the Lab's Outdoors Club for a challenging 6.6-mile hike to the summit of Mission Peak on Sunday. The peak, located near Fremont, offers first-rate views of the South Bay, the northern Santa Cruz mountains, the Peninsula, San Francisco, and even the summits of the Sierra Nevada. Those interested in participating should meet at the North Berkeley BART station parking lot at 9:30 a.m. Contact Dinah Levy for more information.

Grant Funds Study Of Water's
Life Cycle

For most people, it's enough to know that when you turn on the tap, water comes out. But with the rapid pace of global warming, that may not always be the case. In an effort to understand the complete life cycle of water and, some day, to predict droughts, floods and water supplies, a team of UC Berkeley scientists  including Berkeley Lab earth scientist Inez Fung  is embarking on an ambitious project to track the fate of water through the atmosphere, the trees, the soil, the streams and oceans, and back again into the skies. The research is funded by a Keck Foundation grant. Full story.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Delegate Needed For
UC Staff Assembly

A Berkeley Lab delegate is needed to fill a position on the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA). The Council provides a staff perspective to UC policymakers, namely President Robert Dynes and the Board of Regents. Delegates serve a two-year term. UC employment for at least five years is required, as well as full-time non-represented status. Go here for more information on applying (the deadline is March 15). Questions about the delegate position and CUCSA can be directed here.

'FOS' Lecture on Breast
Cancer is Tonight

Berkeley Lab life scientist Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff will speak tonight on "The Role of Microenvironment in Breast Cancer" at 5:30 p.m. in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2015 Addison St. in Berkeley). The talk is part of the Friends of Science lecture series.